North America Premieres On Discovery Channel Tonight

Tonight, Discovery - the network that brought us nature and wildlife programs Planet Earth, Life and Africa - debut North America - will debut a 7-part series, which treks across the continent to check in on mother nature in her various forms. North America is a continent with an especially diverse array of climates, from the icy cold Alaska to the deserts in Arizona to tropical rain forests in Panama, the contrast is drastic, which should give North America plenty of ground to cover in terms of its subject matter.

North America is Discovery's first independently-produced natural history landmark series and was shot over the course of three years, as the crew traveled from Canada to the U.S. and Central America to get footage. The first five episodes of the 7-episode series focus on the stories of various animals as they struggle for survival against extreme weather conditions and dangerous predators. Among the animals featured, the desert jaguar, the grizzly bear, mountain goats, killer whales and more. There's also a "making of" episode, which looks at the production of the series and the challenges the crew faced, including natural disasters, Hurricane Irene among them. The final episode will reveal online voters' pick for the number one, natural North American destination.

I caught the first episode of the series, and as you might hope, the camera takes us right up to the action for this one, giving us a front row seat to various animal encounters. And through the narration and music, mounts suspense as we watch nature play out in front of our eyes. Not only does North America dazzle us with beautiful landscape views of different locations across the continent, but it also offers an educational experience as we witness North American wildlife in all its natural glory.

North America premieres Sunday, May 19 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.